Once upon a time there was an author named Richelle Mead, she was spunky, she was sassy, and she wrote a pretty entertaining series called the “Vampire Academy” but then one day Richelle got lost, I’m not sure if it was the weight of all that pressure bearing down on her, causing her eyes to water and blur; or if it was a wiring problem with her GPS, but none the less, she was off of the beaten path.
Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, Mead wasn’t completely lost when she wrote “Blood Promise”… just for the first 65% of it.
I was primed for this book, waiting, wanting, hanging onto a cliff that ended with “Shadow Kiss” but unfortunately instead of barreling full steam ahead, we got lost wandering around Siberia for…well…way to freaking long. I’m not sure what Mead was going for…maybe she was trying to suck us in to some unforeseen emotional roller-coaster, but all she ended up doing was boring me to tears, not moving me to them.
Yes, the book had its good moments, as a matter of fact the last 20% was pretty fantastic, filled with river side love spats (in that, I would rather jump off a bridge than become a Strigoi way) and the audience was thrown 2…no 3, pretty serious twist. Its just to bad it took me 3 days worth of mental scolding to get myself to focus long enough to get to them.
Will I read the sequel to “Blood Promise”? Yes, or course, I’m a sucker for teen runaways (which lets face it… with Rose it’s pretty much inevitable at this point that she’s never going to actually finish school) and heartbroken rich kids with green eyes and extensive Trust Funds. Do I think Mead set herself up for a great next novel? Yes, like I said, she ENDED the book like a champ, but maybe should heed a few words of advice and get the show on the road.
As for the rest of you happy little Dhampires out there, remember… If you ever plan on visiting Russia…pack a lunch.
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[Rating:3.5/5]
Excellent review! I completely agree with you that this one took way to long to get the reader interested. It took me longer then 3 days to finish it and I normally will finish a book in a day. I was so bored with this one I put it away many times. I kept going because I knew it would get interesting at some point and thank God it did, otherwise I would be done with the series. By the time Dimitri shows up on the story I was ready to be done with the book. And then because of how the story was going I actually wanted Rose to be awakened by Dimitri and become a Strigoi. I know, Weird! But lets face it, will it be that bad to become Strigoi? They live forever and stay young. So what if they have to kill to feed? Whatever!
Oh, btw, I am one of your shelfari friends.